Sore Neck
by PikaGirl13
Summary: When Pidge wakes up with a sore neck from hell, Lance is left in her care as her personal aide and the Blue Paladin offers to massage her neck for her to help her feel better. Pidge is impressed with his abilities and starts talking to him about his family and his career plans when they manage to get back home to Earth. A sweet Lance & Pidge story.


Sore Neck

Pidge let out a long moan as she entered the main hall, rubbing her neck with irritation and trying desperately to loosen it up. Her teammates looked at her with concern and even Lance was showing more compassion than usual that morning.

"Are you OK Pidge?" Shiro asked as he walked up to the young Paladin and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Has your neck been bothering you all morning?"

Pidge nodded the best she could without hurting herself, "I think I just slept on it wrong and now it's hard to move it around."

"You wanna to massage it? I can help you with that." Lance asked as he stood up from his seat. Everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What? This stuff happens all the time with my sisters back home, they'd sleep on the wrong side of the bed and wake up with killer neck pain. They would get me to massage it out and they'd feel a hundred times better."

Keith whistled, "I don't know what's more surprising: you thinking Pidge would let you massage her neck or the fact that you have sisters."

"Do you _**REALLY**_ wanna go there Keith?" Lance growled as he gave him a sneer, "Because we can both pull the family card if that's how you wanna play it."

Hunk got up and put some distance between the Red and Blue Paladins before they decided to clash. "While we would love another Lance vs. Keith brawl, I think we should save it until after we've eaten."

"And you two are officially not allowed to go anywhere together until further notice. Not after almost killing each other in our last battle." Shiro declared as he turned his head around to look at his teammates with disapproval. Keith and Lance shifted their feet and puffed out their chests, but they didn't dare yell back at Shiro.

Allura clapped her hands and stood up, "That's enough. I need Keith and Hunk to go out on patrol with their Lions, we're getting closer to our destination and I don't want any nasty traps being sprung. Shiro, I need you and Coran to help me look over my data and help me devise a suitable arrival plan."

Keith huffed and turned his heel to walk out the door, Hunk scurried to follow him and gave Pidge an apologetic look. Shiro walked up to Allura's side and Coran was already there at his Lady's command. Which only left Pidge and Lance.

"What do you want me to do?" Pidge asked with a soft tone, she looked up at the Amazonian tall princess with practically puppy dog eyes. "I can still help you guys work."

Allura gave her a soft smile, "You'll be resting here and Lance will be your aide until your teammates come back to help you."

" _ **WHAT?!**_ " Lance and Pidge yelled in unison, their shared shock made them look at each other with surprised expressions. But quickly they returned to staring at the Princess with equal disappointment.

Shiro chuckled, "Allura is right Pidge. You can't work with your neck giving you grief, so just take it easy for a while and if you need help with anything Lance will be here to give you a hand."

"I guess...but that doesn't mean I have to like it." The Green Paladin grumbled as she sat herself down as gently as she should without bumping or straining her neck.

Lance gave her a look of equal contempt and puffed out his chest, "Well excuse me for being so irritating to you Shorty."

"We'll only be gone for a half hour, so try not to bite each other's heads off." Allura sighed as she shook her head, she turned around and walked out of the room. Coran and Shiro followed in her lead and the Black Paladin gave his teammates a stern fatherly look before the door shut that only meant one thing: _**Behave**_.

A blanket of silence covered the room as the two teammates were left alone to their own devices. Lance was now Pidge's unofficial aide for the tasks that caused her neck too much pain and Pidge was officially in Lance's care. It was going to be a long half hour.

"So what were you saying earlier about your sisters?" Pidge finally asked in order to break the silence between them. "You gave them neck massages whenever they called you for help?"

Lance looked at her and smiled, "Yeah. Sometimes if they weren't careful they would sleep funny and it would cause their necks to become really stiff and sore in the morning. They would moan in pain and would call out to me to help them get outta bed. I'd help them and then I would use some of their lotion to rub their necks until they felt better."

"That's actually pretty sweet of you. Not gonna lie." Pidge replied with a smile of her own.

Lance weaved his fingers together and cracked them, "So do you want me to give your neck a shot?"

"What?"

"Oh come on, my sisters say I have magic fingers and I think the neck rub will do you good." Lance chuckled as he waited for her response.

While it was weird getting asked if she wanted a neck massage or not, with the amount of pain her neck was giving her, she was honestly up for anything that might help release some of that tension and irritation. "OK...but no funny business!"

"No funny business at all." Lance promised as he crossed his heart, "I have some of that healing oil we got from that other planet we just left and I think it'll help you feel better. I mean It's worked miracles for my injuries and Hunk's bump on the head. Maybe it'll help your neck feel better too."

Pidge shrugged her shoulders, "Coran said it's medical oil so I don't see why not."

"OK it'll be a little cold, so just warning you ahead of time so you don't slap me." The Blue Paladin warned as he dripped some of the oil onto his hands and warmed it up before placing it onto her skin.

The chill touch of Lance's fingers on her exposed neck shot shivers throughout Pidge's body. His skin was soft and as he massaged her neck as lightly as he could without causing her pain, Pidge felt her tension ease as she melted at his finger work.

"How does that feel?" Lance asked with a light voice, he looked around to see Pidge eye to eye with a cheeky grin on his face. "It feels good doesn't it."

Pidge did her best not to reveal she was softly blushing, "I guess you have more skills after all."

"Of course I do!" The Blue Lion Paladin replied with mock shock, "I have a lot of talents you don't know about yet."

As his fingers continued to caress her skin, Pidge started to feel better as her neck began to loosen and melt under his touch. His sisters weren't kidding, Lance really did have magic fingers.

"You know, you should pursue a career as a massage therapist." Pidge stated softly, she felt Lance slow down a little as she said that but soon he began to move again like normal.

Lance was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah! I mean, do you know how much money you 'd get paid to do what you're doing right now?" The Green Paladin replied, "If you choose to be out of the air for a while, I think you have a calling as a massage therapist."

Lance snorted, "I'll keep it in mind. But my heart belongs to the sea and sky back home. Space is great and everything, but if we survive this war with Zarkon I think I wanna downgrade to Earth level for a while."

"If we survive? That doesn't sound like the cocky pilot I know." Pidge stated as she reached her hand back and touched the top of Lance's hand gently. "Are you OK?"

Lance coughed, "I'm fine Pidge."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No."

Pidge wished her neck was completely healed so she could turn it around and look into his eyes, but it was still sore so she just gently rubbed her thumb across the top of Lance's hand.

"If you need to talk to me about anything, you know where to find me." The Green Paladin stated with a shocking amount of kindness in her tone.

Lance stopped massaging her neck and gently gripped her palm in his hand like soft silk, he brought his lips down to her small hand and kissed it. Pidge could hardly believe what he just did as she turned her head around without thinking about the consequences of the pain that would come after.

" _ **OW!**_ " Pidge cried out in pain as she quickly turned her head back around and gave a soft moan.

Lance chuckled, "Why did you do that Shorty?" He asked as he re-continued massaging her neck and it felt good having him help the tension go away again.

"Because you kissed my hand out of nowhere you giant!" Pidge replied with a huff and pout of her lips.

Lance didn't reply back but his fingers felt warmer and she could almost swear that he was being more tender with his strokes. Like he didn't want to cause her any more pain than she already inflicted on herself with her quick head turn.

"Well what do we have here? Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?" A voice boomed from the doorway, causing Lance to turn his head around at the speed of light and Pidge to yelp with surprise.

There looking at them with the biggest grin on his face was Hunk and a smirking Keith. "I didn't actually think Pidge was going to let you touch her neck." The Red Paladin stated as they entered the room and stretched their arms.

Pidge could feel her face reddening up and heart begin to flutter, but before she could say anything, Lance replied for her. "Oh shut up Keith."

Hunk sat down next to Pidge and gave her a concern look, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Believe it or not, Lance does have some talent with his fingers."

"Really? That's a shocker."

Lance gave a loud groan, "Do you all honestly think that I don't have any other skills outside of flying?"

"No, we're just surprised that you do." Keith replied with his regular tone.

Lance stopped massaging Pidge's neck and gave her a light pat on the shoulder, "You should be good to go. Just rest up tonight and you should be completely healed by the time you wake up."

"Thanks. Really, I mean it Lance." Pidge replied with a side glance, making Lance's heart go pitter patter in his chest.

So for the rest of the time, the team just hanged out and waited for Allura to finish up her meeting with Coran and Shiro. During that entire time Lance and Pidge kept giving each other side glances and Pidge could still feel his soft lips on her hand from his gentle kiss. Who knew something like that could come out of having a sore neck.


End file.
